Friday, February 19, 2016
Holy Histamines
That's getting a little carried away, but I've never noticed a problems with histamines until recently. I guess my spinach bread with turkey breast lunch meat and cashew cheeze is a bit heavy on the histamines and I itch after I eat it. It's so good though. Guess I'm going to have to do a little research and figure out how to keep my histamines low for a while as I imagine constantly triggering a histamine response doesn't help with gut healing. Boo! I've been making Pesto spinach wraps in the dehydrator and it was so fun to be able to eat a sandwich type thing again. Back to the drawing board!
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Stress is such a bugger!
We all like to pretend that stress doesn't matter. We like to think we are handling it or that we are not stressed. My husband purchased me the Inner Balance gadget for Christmas with a lovely meditation pillow. Inner Balance is a cord (with an app, of course!) that you plug it into your "i" device, in my case my iPad, and clip it onto your ear. The sensor on your ear measures your heart rate variability as a way to determine your level of stress and help you learn how to train your mind to bring your heart rate variability to a less stressful pace. There is a lot of science around it, books, etc. none of which I was interested in enough to read.
The first few uses over Christmas break I was easily able to keep it in the green (meaning good heart rate variability, low stress and their term "coherence"). Fast forward a couple of months and I have increase to level 2 and am trying to do around 10 minutes of my HeartMath every day. Some days, more often than not, it's HARD to get into and stay in coherence. Dang! I thought with all my yoga and everything that I was so chill. Apparently not :( It's amazing how I can be sitting there doing great, in the green, and my mind just wanders to something I have to do or don't want to do and boom! I immediately go into the red. Then you have to focus again on breath, gratitude, heart thoughts, working your way through blue back to green only to wander and go back to red. Wow! It's so much more relaxing to be unplugged and not know :)
I've found when I eat in a rush or under any stress my food just sits in a giant lump in my stomach and doesn't want to go anyway. I get a little reflux even sometimes. If it happens to be dinner when this goes down then the next morning can be rough. So, even though Dr. Pimental has done research that shows that stress alone does not cause SIBO, it can definitely contribute to your symptoms and inhibit your ability to digest. And remember that the stress hormone cortisol is catabolic, meaning it breaks things down, definitely not helpful for healing!
The first few uses over Christmas break I was easily able to keep it in the green (meaning good heart rate variability, low stress and their term "coherence"). Fast forward a couple of months and I have increase to level 2 and am trying to do around 10 minutes of my HeartMath every day. Some days, more often than not, it's HARD to get into and stay in coherence. Dang! I thought with all my yoga and everything that I was so chill. Apparently not :( It's amazing how I can be sitting there doing great, in the green, and my mind just wanders to something I have to do or don't want to do and boom! I immediately go into the red. Then you have to focus again on breath, gratitude, heart thoughts, working your way through blue back to green only to wander and go back to red. Wow! It's so much more relaxing to be unplugged and not know :)
I've found when I eat in a rush or under any stress my food just sits in a giant lump in my stomach and doesn't want to go anyway. I get a little reflux even sometimes. If it happens to be dinner when this goes down then the next morning can be rough. So, even though Dr. Pimental has done research that shows that stress alone does not cause SIBO, it can definitely contribute to your symptoms and inhibit your ability to digest. And remember that the stress hormone cortisol is catabolic, meaning it breaks things down, definitely not helpful for healing!
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Contemplating Digestive Enzymes
And came across this article. Seems like a good basic description. For me I'm most interested in breaking down protein since I know I have difficulty there and with vegetable fibers since I have a hard time chewing them completely. Still on the hunt for what, I can't honestly say I've noticed a difference with any of them, except ox bile. I'm currently using OrthoMolecular Products DigestzymeV. It's fairly comprehensive but expensive, especially if the whole family is taking it.
I heard Mike Mutzel say recently that you should avoid DPP-IV in your routine digestive enzyme because it doesn't something bad in your gut. Of course I can't remember what he said exactly or whether it was on his podcast or in one of the online summits he's been involved in. The only enzyme I've seen it in are those targeted to gluten/dairy specific digestion.
I've also recently heard that you shouldn't take a digestive enzyme with Cellulase in it because this is not an enzyme that humans actually have (ruminant animals like cows do). I have yet to come across a comprehensive enzyme that doesn't have it.
Two new podcasts I'm listening to:
Gut Guardians
Nourish Balance Thrive
I heard Mike Mutzel say recently that you should avoid DPP-IV in your routine digestive enzyme because it doesn't something bad in your gut. Of course I can't remember what he said exactly or whether it was on his podcast or in one of the online summits he's been involved in. The only enzyme I've seen it in are those targeted to gluten/dairy specific digestion.
I've also recently heard that you shouldn't take a digestive enzyme with Cellulase in it because this is not an enzyme that humans actually have (ruminant animals like cows do). I have yet to come across a comprehensive enzyme that doesn't have it.
Two new podcasts I'm listening to:
Gut Guardians
Nourish Balance Thrive
Friday, February 5, 2016
Such a viscous cycle...
I've been exhausted and pretty miserable. My thyroid tests came back and while my TPO antibodies have dropped to the low 100's, my hormones still remain on the low side of the lab's range of normal. It's frustrating because I look at them from a Functional Medicine ideal standpoint and my ARNP looks at the lab norms. I think if it were just my thyroid I wouldn't be in such rough shape but since it's the whole thyroid-adrenal-gut thing it's been tough. Freezing (low body temp), hair falling out, exhausted, not feeling rested, water retention, weight gain, loads of freaking fun, just ask my husband. Thankfully my motility seems to be staying out of the game although I am still doing Iberogast before each meal, ginger between breakfast and lunch and again at bedtime and Vit C and Magnesium with every meal. Vit C is supportive to the adrenals and my body just doesn't seem to ever get enough magnesium. I'm trying to do ConcenTrace Minerals in water when I can remember but they are gross :) I am great at remembering pills because I can organize those in individual containers. The tinctures not so much, even though they are right next to where I hang out the most.
Update:
My ARNP finally called in a prescription for T3 2.5mcg in the morning and at bedtime. I wanted to try a T3/T4 combo since my T4 is borderline low but there just don't seem to be many good options out there and she wouldn't prescribe. So I did what I always do and went rouge. I went back through all my notes and found that you can get one product that may be beneficial without a doctor and that is Thyro-Gold. The ND of my nutrition program had recommended it but didn't clue me in that it was not prescription. I went ahead and ordered a bottle since I had instructions on how to take it and I wasn't sure 2.5mcg BID was going to cut it (I was on 15 mcg BID before I stopped meds and crashed). I have to say I have felt a bit better this week (after starting meds on Monday), but not stellar and I am still really tired. The Thyro-Gold just arrived so I think I may start it tonight in place of the nightly T3 and see how it goes. I react poorly to Adrenal glandulars (they make me beyond exhausted) so I may have to contact the ARNP to increase the dose if I react to thyroid glandular as well. It's a bit tricky given that sometimes the antibodies can get riled up when you add in more thyroid gland. We'll see.
This week I've been reading:
The Prime - which I love and find really fascinating. It's written by a neurologist who is also trained in Ayurveda so she uses lots of herbs for healing and health.
Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms and Root Cause - just gathering information on how to best support my body and what my options are. It's good to be educated!
Thank goodness I have so many great libraries in such close proximity to my house. I can't imagine the cost of buying all the books I want to flip through and then where the heck would I store them?!?!?
Update:
My ARNP finally called in a prescription for T3 2.5mcg in the morning and at bedtime. I wanted to try a T3/T4 combo since my T4 is borderline low but there just don't seem to be many good options out there and she wouldn't prescribe. So I did what I always do and went rouge. I went back through all my notes and found that you can get one product that may be beneficial without a doctor and that is Thyro-Gold. The ND of my nutrition program had recommended it but didn't clue me in that it was not prescription. I went ahead and ordered a bottle since I had instructions on how to take it and I wasn't sure 2.5mcg BID was going to cut it (I was on 15 mcg BID before I stopped meds and crashed). I have to say I have felt a bit better this week (after starting meds on Monday), but not stellar and I am still really tired. The Thyro-Gold just arrived so I think I may start it tonight in place of the nightly T3 and see how it goes. I react poorly to Adrenal glandulars (they make me beyond exhausted) so I may have to contact the ARNP to increase the dose if I react to thyroid glandular as well. It's a bit tricky given that sometimes the antibodies can get riled up when you add in more thyroid gland. We'll see.
This week I've been reading:
The Prime - which I love and find really fascinating. It's written by a neurologist who is also trained in Ayurveda so she uses lots of herbs for healing and health.
Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms and Root Cause - just gathering information on how to best support my body and what my options are. It's good to be educated!
Thank goodness I have so many great libraries in such close proximity to my house. I can't imagine the cost of buying all the books I want to flip through and then where the heck would I store them?!?!?
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